Friday, August 12, 2011

Hearing, Dougherty’s, Killer T-Cells, Fresh Corn.

I finally got to see the new office of our doctor, from what Matt said I was expecting a much bigger place, not that large after all. Mainly Hearing Aidwe went for an audio check up. We were about due for that anyway. Turns out our hearing is slightly impaired due to our ages, but nothing major although we would do less well in crowds. If we were often in public situations we might need hearing assistance, but when we are predominantly at home, nothing necessary at the moment. I enquired and they showed me a current hearing aid, boy are they ever tiny, completely disappear into the ear. The audiologist’s assistant was wearing one as a demo and one could hardly see it. Odd how much on a par our hearing is as a couple.

On our way home from the doctors I spotted a truck selling freshCorn corn so we stopped and I bought myself a couple – Matt prefers his cooked on the barbecue but of course we don’t have one. I ate them for supper and they were delicious. I hope the truck is there again for a while, I will be going back if he is there. They were really sweet although I have never had corn as sweet as once when I was in NC on vacation and there was a type called How Sweet it Is, it surely was. If you are local and interested, the truck was on the corner of King and River.

By the way, I don’t know if you saw, the Dougherty brothers andDougherty Car sister were finally caught. They were found in Colorado and were chased by the  cops;  firing their guns back at the cop cars they finally wrecked their car, the two boys were caught quickly but the girl ran off firing an AK47 at the cops. If you are interested click on the Dougherty Gang to read more about them.

An optimistic report in the fight against cancer. Researchers have done a small test, three people, with T-cells, basically they remove  some cells from your body, change them to killer cells and then reintroduce them to your system. They had trouble getting funding to try this out, but managed to raise enough for this small trial and as the results were so spectacular they feel they may be able to raise more money to do extensive testing. Read more here at Killer T-Cells.

I like healthy vegetable stews like this one below and will certainly try it, maybe later in the year though.

Chickpea, Lentil and Vegetable Stew

By Dana Treat
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Picture of Chickpea Lentil and Vegetable StewAdapted from Bon Appétit recipe

I served this with brown rice but it is also good with white rice (I would use basmati) and also with steamed quinoa. If you are going to make this ahead of time, wait to add the spinach until you reheat it so it retains the lovely green color.

Ingredients

Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. caraway seeds
½ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 cups light vegetable broth
2 cups water
1 cup dried lentils
1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced ¼-inch thick
1 cup frozen lima beans or edamame
½ cup chopped parsley
10 oz. fresh baby spinach
lemon wedges for garnish and seasoning

Instructions

Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add just enough olive oil to coat the bottom and then add the onions. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the garlic. Cook another 3 minutes. Add the tomato paste and all the spices; stir 1 minute. Stir in broth, water, and lentils. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are almost tender, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.

Add chickpeas, carrots, lima beans, and half the parsley. Cover; simmer until carrots are very tender, about 20 minutes. This dish can be made one day ahead of time. Cover and chill. Bring to a simmer before continuing. Refrigerate remaining parsley for garnish.

Stir spinach into stew in batches until wilted. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls with rice. Garnish each bowl with remaining parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Total Servings: 4

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 342.8
Carbohydrates: 61.1 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Fat: 2.5 g
Saturated Fat: 0.4 g
Fibre: 24.6 g
Sodium: 313.1 mg
Protein: 22.3 g

Have a great day

Jo_thumb[2]

6 comments:

  1. Morning Jo. That is really hopeful news for cancer patients. It makes perfect sense to use the patient's own T-cells--they're not foreign invaders and so the body recognizes them. Very cool

    I hadn't even heard of the Gun toting trio before now. I've been pretty sick so not been keeping up with the news. Glad they caught them.

    Btw, I also have Glenda's newest book. Haven't started it yet, but looking forward to it!

    Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE

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  2. Hope you are feeling a lot better now, not fun being sick.

    They did something similar for sinlaw's cancer several years ago, only that was stem cells. So far he has been in remission for a long time.

    Book is great, you will enjoy it of course.

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  3. always lots of fun little tidbits on your blog Jo! I think I also might try that soup.

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  4. Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy the soup, I may not make it til I get back from vacation.

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  5. Those new hearing aids are amazing, aren't they? Unfortunately they are also very expensive. My hearing is failing to the point where I'm missing about 25% of normal conversation among women (it's the high register that's gone)but the hearing aids they give to pensioners are nowhere near as good as the top of the range ones and most people I've met who have them are always complaining about them. So I think I'll just stay deaf for now. Sometimes it's an advantage.

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  6. Luckily Satima, our insurance will cover a lot of the cost if we need one. How much of the cost I'm not sure. And yes, its the same with us, the high registers are impaired. He said f2f we were fine but mostly people don't just stand and talk that way especially in the home, you say things as you are heading into the kitchen or something.

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